INVESTIGATION OF CHEMICAL QUALITY OF SUGARCANE (SACCHARUM OFFICINARUM L.) WINE DURING FERMENTATION BY SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in the contents of sugar, ethanol, organic acids, volatile compounds, pH and acidity in sugarcane wine during fermentation using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the consumer preference test was also conducted to investigate the optimal fermentation. According to the results, the maximal population of S. cerevisiae reached to 8.12 log cfu/mL at the sixth day of fermentation. The maximum ethanol content, 15.16%, was obtained at the ninth day, while the sucrose and glucose concentrations were almost exhausted at the same time. As for organic acids, citric acid was detected as the most abundant one at the second day of fermentation, followed by lactic and succinic acids. The volatile compounds were analyzed by SPME/GC‐MS, and the concentrations of alcohols, esters and acids were all highest in sugarcane wine at the sixth day of fermentation. The results have demonstrated that sugarcane wine fermentation with S. cerevisiae at the sixth day is enough to reach the highest aroma quality as indicated by the highest esters/alcohols in the wine and the most abundant amount of aroma‐related compounds. The overall preference of consumer test also supports the above result with the sugarcane wine fermented at day 6 having highest scores.PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSSugarcane with high content of sugar is a potential material for making vinegar through alcoholic and acetous fermentation. Because the sugarcane wine as well as sugarcane vinegar is seldom available in Taiwan or other places, it is beneficial to study how to effectively use the sugarcane other than just consumed as a kind of fresh fruit or a juice drink. The economic value of wine is highly depended on its composition changes and consumer's preference. Although there are a few reports working on the chemical compounds during fermentation of sugarcane wine, there is little concerning the consumer‐type preference parallel to the chemical analysis during fermentation. Following the identification of winemaking fermenting yeast strain, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, isolated from liquor rice dregs and the establishment of the fermenting condition for making sugarcane wine carried out in our previous studies, in this study, we analyzed the composition of volatile compounds in sugarcane wine and characterized the associated changes in chemical properties during fermentation. In addition, the consumer preference test was also carried out to verify the results of chemical property analysis. It is hoped the strategy of this study to be a reference prior to industry scale for manufacturing process and quality improvement of sugarcane wine and other wines.